


How Long?

by chellessue



Category: Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (TV 2018)
Genre: AU, And some additional characters, F/F, Heavy Angst, lots and lots of drama
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-29
Updated: 2020-04-04
Packaged: 2020-05-29 16:05:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 13
Words: 17,803
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19403737
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chellessue/pseuds/chellessue
Summary: Ancient creatures, Lilith and Zelda, and they have a past which is to be unraveled by all.





	1. The Decision

Time does not seem to go by in towns like Greendale. Life seems to take an eternity: the dreadful routine, the unexciting way of living turn every second into hours.

Greendale

An ideal town to be inhabitted by witches and warlocks.

You can always cover your extraordinariness beneath the ordinariness of others. They will never ever find out: unless you allow them to.

They don't have the imagination.

Spellmans have always been safe behind the closed doors of their mortuary. They have always been the weird ones to the town folk, but that was that. People seemed to not be able to go beyond the word weird and some idle gossip. And that was over after some time as well. Like I said: lack of imagination.

And that was all very well, very safe. There was a balance. This was a good cycle. And it should have been enough.

But it wasn't. Not for me.

You see, I never liked playing it safe. And I never liked staying behind closed doors. A cage is a cage no matter how big it is. And underestimating the mortals and laughing at their incapabilities just to aggrandize our abilities is quite boresome after some time.

So I decided to take the deal.

A deal mother won't really like when she finds out

Handed by the Queen of Hell herself.

I am Leticia Blackwood and I am going to Hell.


	2. The Bird

Dawn seeped in through the frosted glass to the hall. The winds blew sofly and a bird landed on the window, casting a shadow on an object that didn't use to be there an hour before.

Promises were made, deals were signed and the underworld seemed to overbrim the land and reach the ground. The world burned and so seemed Ambrose Spellman who was slipping in after what mortals say, a hell of a night. With a smug little smile on his face and an utter ignorance, he came in and saw the letter that did not belong to their house. Curious, he opened it up and cursed himself for doing so in a second.

"Fuck me" he said, his eyeballs fighting the alcohol and the shock. He looked up to the stairs and swallowed. This is gonna be bad, he thought after shaking his head and getting his voice chords ready for a good old vibration.

"Aunt Zee!" he shouted moving to the bottom of the stairs and placed his hand on the knob as if trying to ready himself for what was coming.

Anticipation filled the room and Ambrose realized he wasn't breathing properly. Why was it always had to be him to give the horrible news?

And in came Zelda Spellman with all her glory. A dashing black laced night gown sweeping the floor and covering her pale skin, keeping it away from the coolness of the dawn but not the upcoming bad news. Her sister Hilda Spellman followed her who certainly seemed to be coming out of a bedroom but apparently not her own. No night gowns whatsoever but daily clothes, smudged lipstick and eyes indicating she had no sleep.

She looked good.

"What is going on?" Zelda asked, her voice still hoarse, her eyes worried behind the irrirated look she was trying to maintain so hard. She looked down at her nephew and knew something was seriously off.

"We have a problem Aunties." He said and raised the letter up in air without looking at it or them.

The witches walked down the stairs as another witch made her entrance. "What's wrong?" said Sabrina Spellman, following her Aunts to the bottom of the stairs. She stood behind them on the steps trying to read the letter now in the hands of Zelda. The young witch grasped what was going on after reading the first few words but she was unable to take her eyes off the letter even when it started shaking before her eyes. The lines blurred and she gulped. This was going to be bad.

Zelda looked up at Ambrose her eyes sharp. Frost seemed to had fall on them and the sight turned Ambrose uneasy. He hated to see his aunt like that. He watched as Zelda caught the eyes of Hilda then, a conversation was going on that neither him nor Sabrina could grasp. There was this thing about Zelda and Hilda. No matter how much snarky, long-assed comments were thrown in Hilda's way by Zelda, she never ever felt the need to speak in these sort of moments. Hilda understood Zelda and Zelda understood Hilda. After a few seconds which felt like an eternity to the sisters, Zelda spoke.

"Sabrina, get your suitcase ready. You are to pay a visit down below." Zelda turned to her niece who was standing there dumbstruck.

"What!? Why me?"

"Because she won't listen to me! I told her a million times it wasn't her piece of cake and see where it got me!" Zelda sounded more intense than intended. She was frustrated and fear was setting in.

Hilda got in between trying to take the pressure off her sister and give her a moment to breathe properly and collect her thoughts. Otherwise she was going to say things that she shouldn't, no one but Hilda knew better.

"Sabrina, love, Leticia looks up to you. Remember how you used to be like in her age. Your Aunt and I raise her but she sees you as a friend. And at that age people are tend to listen to their friends more."

Meanwhile Zelda had walked to the windows and was staring at the rising sun. Hell was burried in the underground since the eternity but it always found the way to come up above somehow. It never fit beneath the land and Zelda's being seem to not fit her flesh at that moment. There was a bird within her rib cage: locked and flapping and flapping and flapping. Its wings hit her harsh and Zelda could not breathe properly.

She was scared. She was proper scared.

What was going to happen if they could not convince her to come up above?

"All right, I'll go. But I still think we should just ask Lilith to come over here and talk to her-"

The bird hit hard at her chest.

"-Leticia won't give in and come back, you know. She has been going on and on about this for years. And she doesn't look up to me or anything. It has always been Lilith. She is her icon. Like her Meryl Streep or something."

"I can't believe you just made a comparison between The Queen of Hell and Meryl Streep." Ambrose replied unable to believe how half mortal half witch his cousin really was.

"What? Isn't she basically the Lilith of the mortals?"

"You can't ask The Queen of Hell to come over for a chat, Sabrina. Just go and talk to Letty, all right/" Hilda continued, eyeing her sister for a slight second and feeling the need close the case and turn the room back to its seriousness.

"/Before it is too late." Ambrose cut in between, sighing.

And Zelda striked him a look so hard that it could bring all the glasses in the house down.


	3. The Deal

Thus began the walk to Hell. Sabrina cursed under her breath as the road to the underworld twisted and turned. How on earth could people work in the mines? The air was damp, it was all very dark and the energy coming from the pits was unbearable. How could they not sense it?

"They are literally digging their graves up. And they are doing it willingly. The irony." thought Sabrina and laughed at the thought.

"In-deed." A voice answered and made Sabrina jump out of her skin. She turned around with terror in her eyes and saw her.

"Lilith." She gasped. And watched the woman come out of the shadows. Her pale face and red lipstick contrasted her all-black attire. Everything about her was so sharp, from her bone structure to her witts. She was intimidating.

"Hello Sabrina. It has been a while." She came closer and took a good look at the young witch.

"You scared me." said Sabrina, still trying to catch her breath. 

"I do that." said Lilith and smirked. Her fingers found strands of Sabrina's hair and touched them gently. It could have tensed any being dead or alive but Sabrina's mind was preoccupied with other details. _Spellmans,_ Lilith thought.

"How did you know I was coming?" Lilith kept on staring at the witch beneath her hands. She shrugged with her usual uninterest. "I have something that belongs to The Spellmans."

Sabrina tensed at that. _There we go_ , she thought. "Yeah, Lilith, about that/" Lilith pulled her hands off off her completely and did not let her finish.

"/No."

 _What?_ She expected Leticia to protest and not give in but _Lilith?_ "I beg your pardon?" said the witch with complete disbelief.

The Queen hadn't even flinched nor she had changed her tone in slightest.

"I said no, Sabrina. Surely you understand what no means/"

"/Lilith/"

"/I prefer Your Excellency." Lilith's eyes were fiery and focused in Sabrina's. At that moment Sabrina knew this was thought through and calculated. And she hated to admit it but: she wasn't going to be able to convince her. At least not then.

"She will stay here because she wants to." Lilith put an emphasis on every word to make sure Sabrina would remember every single syllable. This was the final decision.

Sabrina couldn't even move. Her brain was fighting to make sense of it all but no. What was going on? Why was she so definite about this? Why would she even care? 

Sabrina came back to her senses when she heard The Queen of the Underground.

Her usual tone was back-

"Tell your Aunt, Leticia signed the deal. She knows what that means."

-but Sabrina could swear she saw something completely unusual and uncharacteristic in her eyes for a second. It confused her and-

She was leaving.

"What deal?" Sabrina asked behind her as the gates opened slowly before them. The blood red slowly painted the walls of the mines.

"WHAT DEAL?" She shouted.

No response. She hadn't even turned back.

"LILITH!?"

No response again.

"Hilda or Zelda?"

Lilith stopped for a second. Sabrina could see she hesitated. After another second she saw her profile on the red canvas of her land. She finally looked at Sabrina and answered.

"You'll know."


	4. Home

_She is not there._

Zelda Spellman threw her cigarette on the floor and started pacing the porch. Hilda was the first one to meet Sabrina at the steps to the house.

"She is going crazy, where is she Sabrina?" Hilda whispered in panic.

Sabrina sighed and looked at Zelda whose back was turned to them, her hand was on her forehead and Sabrina was sure her fingerprints were going to be visible on the skin when she turned to them again.

"I didn't see her."

And that made Zelda turn back to them and move her hand from her face.

"Come again??" Ambrose jumped in. He was everything but calm in these situations and Sabrina hated him for that.

"She didn't let me in."

"What? Who didn't?" Hilda asked, her patience running out.

"Lilith." Sabrina's main spectators Hilda and Ambrose swallowed as they heard their Queen's name. _This was even more serious than it seemed at the beginning._

And for Zelda, well, Hilda _knew_ what was going on with her sister at that moment, thus she barely felt the need or desire to turn around and check her.

Sabrina continued. "She said Letty was going to stay there because she wanted to do so and that she signed some kind of a... contract?" And at that she looked at both her Aunts. _Lilith had told her she would know._

Zelda had to hold onto something to keep herself up on her feet.

"She said you knew what it meant??" continued Sabrina, her voice filled with confusion and she looked at both her aunts expecting an explanation. But neither seemed to be willing to give one. Hilda closed her eyes and rubbed her face and Zelda; she just stood there, rooted to the spot, her breaths heavy and her eyes... Her eyes were trying to catch up to her thoughts. She was trying to comtemplate her next action but, her mind was racing too fast. All she could do was to _feel_. _And she hated it._ She finally let it out unconsciously.

"Fucking bitch." she said under her breath. "Fucking vindictive bitch." she shook her head and turned to the forest. 

_And that was Sabrina's answer._

"Zelda" Hilda said. She neither moved nor met her eyes. Zelda's face had turned as white as a sheet and reds started to seep into her eyes. She was electric and it frightened Ambrose and Sabrina who thought they were used to Zelda's outbursts. But this was entirely new.

"I'm going to kill her. I swear I'm going to kill her this time." She started pacing. Hilda jumped to her feet and walked to her sister leaving a very confused Sabrina and Ambrose on the steps.

"Calm down-" Hilda said maintaining the serenity in her voice even though she felt the opposite.

"She waited and waited for years. She waited for this fucking moment. To get back at me. She is getting back at me with _my_ daughter!" she bursted, the tears threatening and the knot in her throat getting heavier and heavier.

"Zelda-"

"She planned this. She planned the whole fucking thing." Hilda moved to touch her but Zelda retreated and started pacing again. "What am I going to do? What the fuck am I going to do?"

"You have to calm down, you are not in the right mind-" Hilda tried once again but Zelda wasn't listening.

"I'm going to tear her head off that's what I'm going to do!" And she headed to the steps.

"You can't go down there, you know that!" Hilda shouted behind her. This was the first time she had raised her voice to her sister.

 _What is that supposed to mean,_ thought Sabrina and Ambrose in unison but didn't dare get in between whatever that was going on between their aunts. They were both troublemakers and both did not have a bone in their body that did not have the urge to get into everyone's business, yes, but they were stunned at the intensity of the moment. They even felt out of place, as if they were witnessing something utterly personal.

Hilda'a unexpected outburst stopped Zelda and all Sabrina wanted to do at that moment was get into her room and act as if all this mess was not really happening.

Zelda turned to her sister. 

The mighty Zelda Spellman. The secretive Zelda Spellman. The very same Zelda Spellman that did not explain any of her actions. The exact same Zelda Spellman that did not share one single emotion.

"She has already taken so much from me." She did her best to push that knot back but it didn't seem to go away.

And at that moment Hilda knew. She knew and remembered once again. That how broken her sister still was.

"I am not going to watch my daughter sign her life away." She swallowed and Hilda could see the tranformation in her sister. Her sister was _broken, yes._ But _nothing was more dangerous than a broken Zelda_. "No rules to abide anymore. This is war. I am going back _home_." With that she turned away leaving her family and the house that she tried so hard to _make_ home behind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it is very awful of me to leave the chapters this short and I hate myself for it too but I just love leaving them on a high note! Besides I'm still not sure what I'm going to do with this or if this entire thing is any good lol...


	5. War It Is

The road to Hell. The road that everyone is doomed to walk some day. 

Many walked in only once, never to come back up again. And some. Some managed to walk up and down a couple of times.

But one. One had walked this road even more than The Queen of Hell herself did.

Zelda walked along the dark and narrow corridors of the mines. She remembered how nonchalant she used to be whilst walking up and down this road. But now she could feel every stone beneath her feet and every second, ticking as she came closer and closer to the gates.

_"You're early."_

_Bit of a lip bite, and the smile of a total brat, who is everything but patient._

" _I've missed you."_ _Impossible to not be drawn into those eyes, and into that smile._

She shook off the memory. There were far too many memories for a dark whole such as this. It was impossible to believe that they had managed to make a home out of this shit hole, make the sun shine in this murky dark pit.

She wanted to run back full speed and never set a foot there once again. 

_Leticia._

A hardhead, her daughter. An obstinate. _She learned too well._ Zelda knew this was coming. Not because Leticia constantly complained about the way their kind lived but because she had always been bigger than the world surrounding her. None of the kids Zelda and Hilda raised were _normal_ or _easy_ but Leticia had her own difficulties, her own restlesness. Her soul did not fit in her flesh. _She would always, always want something more._ _And this was only the beginning._

_It was amazing how she did not share blood with Zelda but was so similar to her._

Perhaps that was the reason why Zelda let Leticia call her mother.

The idea seemed silly when the young witch first asked her but Zelda found herself sighing a yes and weeping as soon as Letty left the room after a hug. 

She took a breath whilst leaning on the wall for strength and closed her eyes to remember the hug. She tried to make the memory as vivid as possible. She tried to feel Leticia's arms around her.

And she opened her eyes.

_The Doors._

_Breathe,_ she told herself. 

_She used to be the first one to greet her. She would wait before the gates, leaning on the walls or the doors. Sometimes she would let Zelda pass, and watch her stand before the gates, stand before their home. And then appear out of nowhere with a smug little smile. Oh, she had always been a kid._

_And there were times Zelda would spot her before she noticed. There were times she caught how she watched her. Now, that was her favourite._

_An image she couldn't shake off. An anchor that kept her chained to the past._

_Lilith would just take her time and watch her, her expression purified from all that act she constantly put on. Her eyes fixed on her, lips closed in a little smile, and eyes. It would feel like she would try to devour her with her eyes. It would feel like she was taking a picture to keep in her heart: a picture to take out when she was gone, whenever she needed her by her side. Her eyes were true in those moments; she wasn't the Queen, she wasn't the most feared creature above and below; she was a woman in love, and she was in love with her._

_And the goodbyes?-_

Zelda felt tears on her cheeks. She closed her eyes and wiped them away. It was amazing one always remembered the good stuff first.

_These were long ago._

She walked to the gates and touched the stones. 

The hard stones moved before her eyes, unleashing the blood red. The heat touched her skin briefly and she said:

"Hotter than I remember." As the doors opened wider, she realized it wasn't only the heat that had changed but:

"And brighter." She raised a hand to shade her eyes.

There was nobody around - which was strange.

And disappointing in a way.

She hadn't really thought Lilith would be there in an instant but she expected some demons taking her to _her excellency_ as soon as she set a foot on the land. Some argument before facing Lilith could have helped to keep her temper up. She took another deep breath and looked at the mountain top where the castle stood. It was bigger than it used to be. 

_Everything seemed bigger, sharper, more cornered and shelled. And for the first time since all these caos started, she wondered, what was it that waited for her in that mountain top, what was sitting on that throne._

Her steps were slow at the beginning: hesitant, unsure. And then they were fast because she, now, wasn't really sure if her daughter was all right.

Lilith was an intimidating woman: hard to understand, hard to grasp, witty, fast and unexpected. She was a dangerous _dangerous_ creature. She used to excite Zelda, intimidate her but she was never never dangerous. _Not to her._ She never scared Zelda. - _She wouldn't._

But _now_ , she wasn't sure.

_How far would she go? What was she capable of doing without feeling any pain in her gut? What had she turned into? Who was she?_

This kingdom always reflected Lilith. And Zelda didn't like what she saw.

She kept on walking before finding herself still as a rock, gasping, and looking at the castle.

_She had crossed the line._

_How could she cross the line?_

_They were never-_

Zelda never thought she could be disappointed and crushed after everything they did to each other, everything she had gone through. And yet she was. She let the tears and the knot get to her. She swallowed looking at the kingdom which used to be home.

And transported herself to the doors which were wide open. Lilith _knew_ she was there and she was waiting for her. Zelda felt her skin get tighter and tighter around her bones.

_The castle she swore she would never set foot in again._

_The castle Lilith told her she could never set foot in if she walked out that day._

_And this castle_ _was waiting for her, arms open, like an old friend_

_Like a trap._

Zelda walked in and couldn't help but look around and realize _everything_ had changed. The stone cold witch - that was the facade she wore, that was the intended show she put on - felt _the thing._ She felt the forbidden thing.

What a day to break the rules. The rules Zelda herself put and the rules that were put for her.

_She pushed back the feeling, she chose to ignore the bird in her ribcage flapping, and flapping._

But she couldn't help and wished Lilith had changed the whole structure of the house so that it would have taken longer for Zelda to find her.

Despite this inner request, Zelda found herself tearing up the stares, the flesh of her neck burning. She went through the corridors that were still there, ignoring every creature she saw on her way who were looking and whispering. 

But there was one she couldn't ignore:

Jadis' stare was so intense that Zelda found herself drawn into her eyes.

The demon bowed to her and the whole place went silent.

_"Welcome back, my Queen."_

_And that is how you stop the whispers._

Zelda felt every molecule in her came to halt. She swallowed.

"Where is she Jadis?" 

The demon looked up at Zelda.

"You didn't used to be the type that asked questions you knew the answers of."

Zelda smiled at that. "Savage." she said, shaking her head and muttering a spell that opened the doors before them wide open. She raised an eyebrow at Jadis and walked into the throne room.

Oh, the throne room. The room where the death bringer ruled. The heart of the _necropolis_.

The heart of the land where Zelda Spellman's own heart lied once.

 _Gods,_ thought the witch, _it has been years and I-_

There were some demons gathered before the throne and

_two witches?_

They were making too much noise considering there were only six or seven beings in the room. 

Zelda remembered the countless times she went into this room finding Lilith behind crowds, busy, discussing, arguing, shouting. As the reminisces hit her once again, one of the witches had turned in her way and the whole room had gone silent. In a second everyone in the room had turned their eyes at Zelda.

The group split into two to reveal their mighty queen sitting on the throne.

Lilith stood up with all her glory.

Once her lover, now a _stranger. Strange really, she thought, considering the familarity she felt when she first entered the room._

_She hasn't changed at all._

Lilith looked at Zelda; no lights in her eyes, no shock whatsoever. _They were heavy._ _Her eyes has matured_ , thought Zelda. She could remember the fires in those blue orbs when she turned to look at her one last time many many years ago.

She was right, her eyes were heavy, they had matured. They carried the memories. Zelda wondered, i _s it only her eyes that remembered?_

"Out." said The Queen of Hell with a voice that was irritatingly serene.

The demons and one of the witches left the room immediately. But _that one witch,_ she hesitated: splitting her looks between The Queen and Zelda. She said something but Zelda couldn't hear what that was since there was still so much distance between the throne and herself.

"Arya, can you please give us a second?" Lilith said, strangely calm. The witch kept on staring at Lilith until she shook her head and walked to leave. Zelda watched her until she left and Lilith watched Zelda. _Waiting._

"And?" Lilith said, shaking her head, her palms open and her tone very uninterested and bored. Zelda felt the heat in the back of her neck again.

"Where is Leticia?"

Lilith descended from the stairs that led to the throne. And raised her head as she spoke. "Where she wants to be." _The tone._ Zelda remembered how much she hated this tone. Burn the worlds before her and s _he would give you that tone._ She went on, squinting and shaking her head "You are not all/owed"

"/THE HELL with the rules. I want to see Leticia right now!" Zelda raised her voice, her eyes fiery. She got closer to Lilith which stopped The Queen of Hell and give Zelda the side eye.

"Oh, Zelda. You never change, do you? You always ask the wrong questions. The real question here would be" She imitated Zelda: "'Does Leticia want to see me?' And the answer to that would be 'No.'"

 _I'm seriously going to tear her fucking head off,_ Zelda thought. It was amazing how she could still do this in mere seconds. Everyone thought of Lilith as the short tempered one but the reality was _this._ Lilith never did lose her temper with Zelda. _Except for-_

"I don't know what you have been feeding to her but I hardly think she knows she has signed up for a/"

"/gilded cage." 

_Silence._

Zelda saw the hurt.

Lilith wasn't _uninterested_ anymore.

She smiled, aching. _The wound was still there._ "Seems there are people that don't see it that way."

_Plural?_

Zelda didn't let it get in the way of the real topic though.

"My daughter/"

"/Your daughter?" Lilith laughed. "Please." She gave her a pitying look.

_Zelda ignored it._

" _My daughter_ is not _the cage type,_ believe me, I know."

Lilith shrugged. "Seems like you don't."

Zelda stopped and stared at her. _This is going nowhere._ She looked away and took a deep breath; a breath to calm herself down, an action she had learned in this very room.

When Zelda turned to look at Lilith again, her eyes had changed. _The mother was there._

This look, this look she gave Lilith; it made her question. It made her question the burried stuff.

"Let me see her." the witch breathed out. Lilith stopped for a second.

Only for a second.

But-

"I told you. She doesn't want to see you." she avoided Zelda's eyes, looking down "And I thought Sabrina already gave the news." she continued. And looked up whilst uttering following

"She signed _the deal_."

_How can she look so empty? How can she be so unreadable?_

_And how could she tell this like it was nothing._

"I'm looking at glaciers, where are you?!"

_"I'm looking at glaciers, where are you?!"_

_"Right where you are!"_

"Right where you are."

_"You turned me into this. -This- is your creation._

_This is a fucking husk. Aren't you proud, Zelda? Isn't this what you wanted?_

_A -thing- that doesn't comment, that doesn't speak but just nods and waits and waits for you to return._

_Here it is, it is yours. Do whatever you want with me now. Your very own china doll."_

Zelda knew she shouldn't have played that card but it was too late.

"I'll have to ask you to leave." said Lilith, her voice lower than usual. And at that moment Zelda saw how tired she was. And _how broken._

_Zelda felt out of place._

_She felt as if she was disturbing._

"Mother." Both Lilith and Zelda looked at the door in the corner.

"Leticia!" Zelda gasped and ran to her daughter to take her in her arms. "I was so worried." she said holding her girl tight.

"I'm fine." she said, looking at Lilith over her mother's shoulder.

Lilith just looked at her and sighed as she leaned back on the wall, her hands clasped behind.

Zelda let go and held her daughter's hand instead "Let's go." she said.

"Mother." Leticia slipped her hand out of Zelda's hold. And looked at her eyes. "I'm not coming."

"Don't be silly. Come on."

"Mom!" Leticia stayed still, fed up.

"Letty, you don't know this place. And you _certainly_ don't know _her_!"

"What do _you_ know mom? Just tell me!"

Zelda didn't answer. She could feel Lilith's eyes on her back.

"I'm staying." she shook her head and turned to the door until she came back to face Zelda. "You know what, I'm so sick of you deciding every route everyone _has to_ take. This is my life and this is my decision. And I know it is going to be a real shock to you - but _you don't have a say in my life_."

Leticia banged the door leaving a frozen Zelda behind.

_Zelda had never felt this cold in her entire life._

Lilith watched the woman. She watched her until she felt the need to sigh.

"Guess that answers your question." She pushed herself up from the wall. "They will show you the way out but I hardly think you will need any assistance."

Just as she was about to pass Zelda, she caught her by the arm.

"For how long have you been planning this? How long did it take to plant the seeds?" Her eyes burned. Lilith took her eyes off her only to look down at Zelda's hand on her arm. She looked down at her hand in a very dramatic and slow pace, the corner of her lips curled up into a smile.

She looked up at her, smiling and enjoying Zelda's fury. "I don't know what you're talking about." _The tone. The mocking tone._

"Don't you dare try to fool me, I know you too well." _It won't work Lilith._

"Believe it or not, I have changed Zelda." 

"For worse, yes."

"Don't be so bitter just because your daughter chose me over you." _Zelda swallowed at that._

"You have been planning this since the moment I stepped out of that bedroom." said Zelda, letting Lilith's arm go, her eyes glittered with shock.

"Still so full of yourself. Unbelievable." Lilith rolled her eyes. "I really don't want to destroy your wet dreams but, no, Zelda, it took me long to get over you, yes, but it is over now. I really _really_ don't give a fuck about you. But I must say the sight is quite enjoyable. And the fact that Leticia is so right about everything... You haven't changed in the slightest, have you?" Zelda felt like puking. Not because of the thing she said. But because how she said them. All these felt disgustingly true.

This was not an act Lilith put on.

Lilith continued over her shoulder as she followed the path Leticia just took. "Enjoy your trip back home. And if you dare come back here again, I will see you in the pits."

And Zelda had already made her decision.

_Fine, war it is then._

"Who says I'm leaving?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All rightyyy, let's get the heat up.


	6. Wounded Animals

" _I'm sorry?_ "

Lilith turned to Zelda eyes wide open, her stare intense. Zelda must admit, it made her look away for a second.

"You heard me." she replied, maintaining the posture and shotting the same deadly stare right back at Lilith. _Oh, she was quite sure she was doing the right thing now._

"Zelda, you are pushing your luck too hard." Lilith said between her teeth, the irritation was accompanied with a smile.

Zelda smirked and watched _the woman._ Enjoying _winning._

"I love it when you are frustrated." Zelda decided to take her time. 

"Frustration is your thing not mine." Lilith replied back. Zelda had expected some wittier come back. _Had her ex, The Queen of Hell, rusted in her absence?_

"Look at the mirror then. You'll be surprised."

"Ohh" Lilith shook her head with a smirk. Zelda could see her tongue move in her cheek. _Lilith was running out of patience._ Now, _that_ was new. Zelda raised her head higher as Lilith walked closer to her. "Aren't you scared what this new Lilith can do to you, Zelda? You said it yourself. You said I changed for worse." she dared.

_They looked at one another without breaking the eye contact._

_It took Zelda hell to breathe normally._

_And she knew the air she was breathing out was getting warmer and warmer._

_Zelda broke the eye contact._

_Only to look at Lilith once again._

_"Send me to the pits." she moved her head forward, her eyes, her smile dared her. "Come on." she shrugged._

_Lilith blinked, searching Zelda's eyes, searching for a sign of fright, searching for something fake so that she could get back at her._

_Zelda smirked._

_"Guards" yelled Lilith turning back and getting away from a stunned Zelda. What, Zelda thought. Would she?_

The guards were in the room in mere seconds.

_That witch as well._

"Take her to the dungeons." she ordered.

_2-0, thought Zelda. And gave Lilith the smirk. The smirk that she learned from Lilith._

And when the guards _hesitated_ to touch her. S _he laughed. "Come on boys, do what your Queen says."_

_Lilith shot them a look so intense that they were holding Zelda by arms in a second._

Hell had gotten hotter and brighter, yes, but its inhabitants did not think the fires had been as violent as they had been thay day. It had been long since they burned that bright and hot.

Zelda didn't take her eyes off Lilith as the guards took her out of the room and from the side of her eye she could see that witch getting closer to Lilith and say something.

The door closed behind them with a bang and Zelda heard a loud noise coming from the throne room.

She had won this round. She had erased that smug little smile from her face. She had woken up the fury in Lilith.

It meant she still had it in her, she could still _hurt her._

_But for some reason, she wasn't able to smile anymore._

_"What the fuck?"_ Arya approached Lilith, and held her by the arm. Lilith looked at the young witch's hand and then in her eyes, fires burning in her looks. _What was with these women and their guts to touch her like that today?_

Arya didn't even flinch at Lilith's glance but her hands losened around her arm unaware.

Lilith released herself from Arya's hold and and moved an arm up and down, slapping the air, and took down the chandelier onto the floor with a loud smash. The sound managed to pillow her own screams which was the intention in the first place.

Arya watched her pace the room.

"You won't get away by smashing things." she said without raising her voice. _Oh yes, they were pushing her real hard today._

The Queen of Hell turned to the young witch with those glaciers of eyes; looks juts like icicles; cold, sharp and deadly.

"I get away with anything, Arya, you seem to forget your place though. Your getting away with things completely depend upon me and if you utter another word-"

"What? You would 'see me in the pits'?"

Ah, just one thing about Arya, she was _a lot like Lilith,_ or let's say, she was a lot like what Lilith used to be like when she was _younger_. But the difference was, a _nd beware because this makes all the difference_ , Lilith was The Queen now and Arya (although a very talented and bright one) an ordinary witch.

Lilith stormed across the room and pinned the younger witch on the wall.

_She pinned her very Queenly and Arya was pinned very ordinarily._

"I don't even need a spell to crack your bones right this second, you know. I can even feel your very own skin choking you at this very moment." Lilith watched her own knuckles get whiter and more apparent around her throat.

_She watched her bones, and her veins and-_

_She pulled away._ The veins in her eyes beating in sync with the pulse of the girl that was now on the floor trying to collect her breath.

Lilith scrubbed her forehead and closed her eyes with her hands. Her actions were frantic and when she took her hands down, her face was red and she had no idea where to place her hands or her eyes. She walked up and down first and then couldn't keep away more but kneeled before the girl that was still on the floor.

Lilith extended a hand to touch her but the girl slammed it in an instant. She was still coughing.

"What is my fault, ha? Being in love with you?" she tried to stand up, her face still flushed, close to purple. Her long red curls were before her face but Lilith saw the fires in them. It matched her hair. _She really was a gorgeous woman._

_Shame-_

Lilith neither answered nor watched the girl leave. She just stared at the spot her young lover whinged and crawled minutes ago.

Arya slammed the door and found Leticia standing behind it. She immediately covered the marks Lilith's hands had left and walked past her.

Leticia went into the room.

The sight was straight out of a literary piece. An epic and tragic one.

A magnificent broken chandelier on the floor. Crystals mashed into pieces and scattered around the huge room and a woman kneeled far behind the entrance staring at the same spot.

Leticia hesitated, torn between leaving the room and closing the door behind and running to the woman and asking her if she was okay.

All of a sudden, Lilith rose from the floor. She wiped away the tears and sweat and looked at Leticia, no trace of what had just happened in her voice.

"Convince your mother to leave, Leticia because even you won't be able take her from my hands if she doesn't."

"Lilith-"

What turned in her way made Leticia swallow. She had never seen Lilith like that.

"Dungeons are heaven for the people that disobey me, Leticia. She is only alive because you begged me not to harm her. Get her out of my sight before I change my mind."


	7. Digging Up

Lilith watched the amber and white dance on the sea. Black, red, amber and white. The colours of her land. The colours of her life. Her endless, eternal life.

She thought of Arya. She was going to embrace her tight tonight. She was going to hold her tight and whisper sweet nothings to her. She was going to tell her to open up her heart, tell her that she had arrived, she was there for her. She was going to tell her; the gates are open, you are safe, I trust you, come in, she was going to tell her these. Yes, she was.

They were fine.

They were doing good.

And they were going to keep on doing good.

Rebel, her lover, rebel and head over heels in love with her. And she was drop dead gorgeous.

She was her last page, her last harbour. She was safe.

_The Goddess, the sole ruler of the ultimate fear of the living, the most inhumane creature both dead and the living ever heard of stood there in her balcony thinking about the most humane stuff one could think of._

Lilith tried to be like the colours of her land. Black, red, amber and white. Sharp, constant, clear. But she was not. She had all colours in her soul and it pained her in the most sufferable way.

Lilith can be taken down by one thing and one thing only, my dears.

And that is herself.

And her actions those days reflected that she was more than inclined to do that.

She ruled over the burried, the unspeakable. Naturally, she was good at burrying. But she was not good at burrying her own past.

_She was vindictive._

_She did not forget._

_And many many years ago she decided she was willing to wait for as long as necessary to do what she believed that had to be done._

"She went down to the dungeons my Queen."

Lilith looked over her shoulder and smiled.

"Thank you."

She could go to her lover now.

Lilith walked through the corridors as Leticia did the same. One reached to the door handle of the bed chambers as the other touched the bars behind which her chosen mother sat behind.

Zelda looked up at her daughter and rushed to the bars as Arya let herself melt into Lilith's embrace.

_If I could hold some grudge against her life would be so much easier, they both thought, as they both closed their eyes when one's hand touched her daughter's, and the other's arms held the arms that held her tight._

_Arya cried into Lilith's kisses._

_Zelda held her tears back as she knew her daughter detested drama._

"Mother, you have to leave."

Zelda pulled back from her touch. "I'm not going anywhere without you."

"You enrage her terribly. Please go."

"I am not scared of her!"

"Mom!" Leticia bursted out, her eyes filled with tears of rage. "This is the _only thing_ I want in life. I want to be by her side. I want to help her _rule_. Please please don't mess things up for me _just once_."

Zelda swallowed at that. It was amazing how easily Leticia could hurt her. At that moment, even if for a second, she hated her for making her weak. She hated the effect Leticia had on her. _Things she gave up for her-_

"You don't know what you signed." she warned her trying to keep her temper in control.

"I know what I signed Mother, it was explained to me in detail and I made my research on it as well." she insisted, her eyes stubborn. _You have grown up, thought Zelda, but your heart is still a child's heart. You haven't been hurt yet. You haven't been wronged._

"This is _Hell_ , Leticia. It it nothing like above, rules are strangely flexible and this is merely on your advantage." her voice higher than intended.

"You keep preaching and preaching, talking in codes. The only person than understands you is Hilda, Mother. I am so tired of trying to understand you. I am so sick of acting as if I am convinced by these codes just to make you happy, just to avoid an argument. If you want to say something just say it."

"Leticia." Zelda couldn't go on.

"I thought so." she nodded and smiled achingly. "I knew it anyway. I called for Sabrina and told her everything that has happened. They are coming to pick you up."

"Leticia, I beg you not to do this. Please come with us." Leticia shook her head and laughed. She started for the stairs.

Zelda swallowed. She had come to a decision. A decision she was going to regret very soon. Through the bars of her cell and the tears in her eyes, she called out.

"Fine! Stop!" And her daughter turned to her.

Zelda thought, I could be anywhere in all time and space, anywhere, instead of this moment.

"But promise me you are going to come up above no matter what."

Her daughter came closer to her, and Zelda felt she was opening up an entire window within herself for her daughter to look in. She took a deep breath and started talking.

The road to hell was beaten, one might say, lot of unexpected incoming; Sabrina Spellman muttered the words that cracked the gates open. The Spellmans walked in as Leticia Blackwood teared across the corridors of Lilith's castle. It all seemed very diffrent to her then; for now she knew her mother had walked through these doors and corridors once; she now knew all these belonged to her. Once upon a time.

She heard her screams. She was yelling at her to come back; not to do something impulsive, something they would all regret.

 _Why didn't you tell me this before,_ she had told her mother. Her mother, who never looked down but then couldn't find it in herself to look her daughter in the eye.

Leticia wiped her tears with the back of her hand and slammed the door open. The door to Lilith's chambers.

She wasn't _thinking_ , obviously.

Lilith's black locks poured out on the pillow, her naked body shielding the other woman she had pressed herself to. 

Her arms were everywhere, like an asp, and Leticia thought for a second, that asp would be the right word to use when talking about Lilith.

_Deadly, and always slipping from your grasp._

And she wondered, she wondered if Lilith used to hold her mother like this as well.

_Once upon a time._

The Queen, The Asp turned to her as she pulled the sheets with herself and shielded the woman lying next to her with an arm. When her eyes met Leticia's, they were alert.

She breathed out as she realized it was Leticia but her reaction changed into another immediately: confusion and fury.

"What do you think you're doing here?"

Arya had woken up as well, she looked at Leticia behind Lilith's shoulders: her eyes trying to fight sleep and confusion.

"I want out."

"I beg your pardon?"

"I want out or I will bring this castle and everything down upon you."

Lilith only laughed. "What are you talking about Leticia?"

"Mom told me everything. How dare you _Lilith_?"

Lilith's smile disappeared. Arya had taken her eyes away from the young girl standing right in front of their door and was now trying to understand what was going on in Lilith. She saw her swallow.

 _Impossible, thought Lilith._ "She told you- what exactly?"

"You know what, after all you were there!"

Lilith's eyes warned Leticia. She gave her the side eye and Arya could feel her tensing up. "I know Zelda, my dear, she would never. _She couldn't._ " Lilith's lips curled on one side as she bit the inside of her mouth slightly.

"I am telling you one last time: let us go." Lilith released Arya and get her shoulder free from her lover. She reached out for her robe and covered herself irritatingly calm. In that moment not only Leticia but also Arya knew this Lilith was someone that they haven't met yet.

"Aww." Lilith mocked. "But you can't, my dear Letty." She caressed Leticia's cheek. The tone and the touch sent for some reveries, some memories, Leticia felt it in her blood. 

"Wha-" _Her._

"Now, this is the bit I presume, your mother did not _prefer_ to tell you. But you sort of know now, don't you. Don't you remember me baby?"

_Her mother and Lilith ruled over hell, that her mother already told her. But it wasn't the full story, was it?_

_For under Lilith's touch, Leticia knew, this was the story of her mother and Lilith, yes, but she was a part of it as well. She was around when it all happened._

_She was the reason it happened._

_Leticia remembered Her._


	8. Everything Has A Price

_The itsy-bitsy spider_  
_Climbed up the water spout_  
_Down came the rain_  
_And washed the spider out_  
_Out came the sun_  
_And dried up all the rain_  
_And the itsy-bitsy spider_  
_Climbed up the spout again_

_The little kid giggled away her curls as Lilith tickled her every time 'the spider climbed up'._

_Letty's eyes were the stars: happy and glittering and they reflected on Lilith's. Her blue orbs were happy; nobody could deny it; not even herself._

_Zelda leaned on the doorframe, watching her girls. This must be happiness, she thought, watching the ones you love smile and giggle. She couldn't help it but giggle with them._

_And with that, the reality seeped in._

_The reality which screamed that happiness is not eternal, it is just moments, mere seconds such as these._

_Lilith drew back from Letty as she heard Zelda join them; her eyes lost the glitters in them. Zelda felt the warmth that filled her up a moment ago go away. She felt cold. As cold as the icicles that were Lilith's eyes._

_Zelda didn't want to argue. She didn't desire to have the upper hand for the first time in her life. She felt so tired of arguing with Lilith. And she wanted the warmth back. She wanted them to be like what they used to be._

_Even though she herself made it an impossible thing._

_Nonetheless, she walked to her lover who was sitting on the couch in the living room of the Spellman's, she walked to her with sorrow in her eyes and her lips, she walked to her with arms yearning for their lover, longing to touch her, to feel her._

_Zelda sat next to Lilith and entwined her; touched her, burried her face in those dark locks of her; did her best to extend this happy moment of theirs._

_She wasn't going to fight her today. She had missed her too much for that._

_Lilith relaxed in her touch and put her arms around Zelda in return._

_"I know the exact thing you are going to say in return, but please don't." said Zelda._

_Lilith's hold wasn't that tight anymore._

_"I have missed you so much."_

_And with that Zelda lost an arm around her and felt a hand caress her hair._

_Lilith did not answer._

_Zelda knew what she was going to do, she knew Lilith was going to stand up and walk across the room, find the furthest corner of it. So Zelda held her tighter._

_Lilith sighed as if she had the worlds on her shoulders, it was as if they weren't heavy for her or anything but as if she was tired of standing below them, standing at the same exact spot, doing the same exact thing all the time._

_"You don't have to hold me tight to keep me, you are the one that slips away constantly."_

_I am so tired, Zelda thought as she closed her eyes. I don't wanna argue, please don't make me argue, she begged Lilith without any words._

_She didn't speak in return, but pulled Lilith in for a kiss._

_And for a moment Lilith gave in. The kiss grew more passionate in mere seconds. And then Lilith pulled away._

_Her eyes were furious, Zelda didn't have to look at her to know that, and she stood in the midst of the room staring down at her, and that, Zelda knew as well._

_The ginger locks poured down on her hands as she took her face in her palms. Zelda Spellman closed her eyes, covered her face as if she could hide behind them and become totally invisible._

_"You are seriously trying to drive me crazy, aren't you?"_

_"I don't want to fight. Please, Lilith."_

_Lilith shot her a look that could bring the house down. "For fuck's sake." She started laughing and Zelda really -really didn't want to look at her now. "We are fighting because of your actions, Zelda. If you don't want to fight me, maybe you can come back home/" Now, Zelda brought her hands down and looked at Lilith._

_"/We agreed on this./"_

_"/You are extending it." She was right, Zelda knew she was right._

_So she sighed._

_And Lilith watched._

_"Don't you love me anymore?"_

_Zelda looked up, her eyes genuinely shocked._

_"What?"_

_Lilith said the words soft and low. And she was looking at her own hands until she looked up and fixed her stance again._

_"You heard me." Her eyes. Zelda hated herself in that moment._

_Lilith stood very still. This was one of her 'I don't care' act ons. Zelda knew it. And knowing it hurt even more. She stood up and got closer to Lilith. Lilith's face started to break and Zelda felt like stabbed in heart._

_"I love you more than anything in the world." Zelda assured her. There was something about her tone though. It was as if her love for Lilith was the greatest gift and biggest misery._

_Zelda touched her cheek. "Let's us go home."_

"Lily?" Leticia said.

"Hello, my darling girl. It is so nice to finally welcome you properly." 

"But- how?- we used to be together. I mean you were down here- but you used to visit- and mom- mom would come to you- come down here for/"

"/for six months, yes, that was the agreement."

"I didn't remember when mom told me that you used to be together, that you used to rule over hell together. But now I do. When she told me I thought- I thought all these happened when I wasn't born yet. But- I was around. I was around. I remember you."

"Your mother always keeps the best parts to herself."

"But- why- what happened? Why aren't you still together?"

Arya flinched.

"And you made me sign the deal." said Leticia, processing all these. She remembered Lilith. She remembered her craziness, her rebelness, and how she looked up to her.

She remembered her turning up with gifts and crazy memories to tell them.

She realized her admiration to her wasn't because of her ideas or her being the Queen, but they were all due to the memories they shared, her coolness she had witnessed when she was a little thing. She forgot it all, yes, but the effect had always been there somehow.

 _But there were the things her mother had just told her._ The realization struck her like a thunder.

"You made me sign it to get back at her?! She told me you planned this because she left you."

"Lilith?" Arya said, behind her. The young woman thought at that moment, _how many times can you break me down?_

Lilith didn't turn around, nor did her expression changed; she was fixed in Leticia's eyes.

"I didn't make you do anything. I even warned you when you came to me and told me you wanted to live with me. This was your own decision, Leticia."

"She told me you begged her not to leave and that you were furious when she finally did." Lilith swallowed. _Amazing how it still hurt to hear these words after all this time._ "She said it would be the ultimate revenge to get me here, forever."

Lilith's burrows rose as she rolled her eyes and chuckled mockingly. "Yeah. Fair enough. Because it really is the ultimate revenge." Her voice grew sore. She continued.

"But the thing you mother doesn't seem to comprehend is this: I did not do anything to get you here. You did it willingly. And the other thing, and believe me this is the key _thingy -the reason why you cannot leave this place has nothing to do with me. It is because of a deal that was signed long, long time ago._

_By your mother."_

It is never the cage, that is the main problem. It is who put you in the cage and what got you there. A cage can be heaven to one and hell to the other. And hell can be heaven to some and the opposite to the others. Hell is the people, the saying goes.

Up and down, Zelda Spellman tore across the roads of hell. For years and years. She was welcomed in the gates, she was welcomed with kisses. And then Lilith started to take her _home_ herself, extending the time her lover stayed in home, _in hell_.

Zelda had started this. She had started to break the rules by extending her time up above and the Mother of Deceit, the Master of Manipulation had only followed her footsteps. Lilith started taking her by the hand, whispering sweet words; kind of words that smelled ripe eventually.

It was too late for them when Zelda realized the state of their relationship.

They had always fought. They had always argued. But after Leticia, these fights took the most intense turn imaginable. They started showing one another teeth and started ripping flesh; torturing one another. Zelda did this with her outbursts, Lilith did it by mere words, and one or two very harsh breakdowns.

She had always been patient, Lilith, she had always calculated her attacks, she showed teeth when necessary but her blows were never out of losing temper.

She could have found the balance to this relationship.

She just could.

But she was left alone for too long.

Even when she went up to get her lover back by her side way earlier, she still had to wait for months for her to come back.

And she realized Zelda was not so willing to come back to her anymore.

"No light, no air, nothing." She once said. And _that_ , Lilith had thought, _that might be the cruelest thing she has ever said to me. For the kingdom was Lilith, and Lilith was the kingdom._

What is it up there that she find more charming, more appealing, she asked herself constantly, She used to tell me _I was the thing she loved the most in the world._

Even when she returned back to Lilith's arms, she wasn't there anymore. She used to spend the nights on their balcony watching out. She is just filling her time up, Lilith thought, she would kiss her on the cheek and leave _when her time was up._

She hurt her, she hurt her terribly.

_Does she even remember what she signed?_ she asked up above some day. _Do you even remember what you signed back in the day?_

_Do you remember you signed Leticia's life away? Do you remember signing the life away of that little thing which is the reason why you claimed you needed to spend six months up above?_

Oh, it was fine at the beginning. Zelda had to take care of that sweet little kid and she couldn't bring her down; it was after all, _hell._ Even if their people were obedient to them, any of them could risk a lot to get the youth of a baby to go back up above.

And Zelda thought the baby as her own responsibility. She said they can frequently visit one another. And she would be entirely Lilith's for six months.

And that this going up and down would be over after she turned 7.

In those days Lilith was way too busy and she thought she could do the work while Zelda was up above and could be entirely hers when she came back.

They thought it could work.

They were so sure about it and about one another that Zelda thought Leticia should be allowed to join them after she turned 16. 

"It is up to her." she had said. "We are just giving her a choice."

For one couldn't really spend more than 3 days in Hell unless they really are dead. If one does spend more, there is no going up above again.

"The rules have to go for her too, Zelda, are you sure about this?" Lilith had warned. "She can't leave after she signs this."

"I would love her to be around Lilith. I want you and I want her. This is the only way we can have a chance to be all together. And it is going to be her choice after all. We are not going to force her to sign or anything. I just want her to have the choice. I don't want her to feel as if I am casting her out of my life or anything."

"Okay." Lilith had said. "Whatever you say." 

_"I don't want her to feel cast out."_

It didn't take long for Lilith to feel exactly that. _She felt cast out_ when Zelda preferred spending the nights of their six months together in their balcony, and when she abandoned her with a plain, reflexive kiss on cheek, alone, in their kingdom.

"Now, did your mother tell you about _that_ _?_ Zelda just loves playing the victim. _She just loves it._ Nobody asked her to do it Letty, I certainly did not. She claimed that you had the right to have the choice. For without the deal you can't really choose to spend your life here. But you and I know that is not it, don't we my dear? She just wanted to have it all. She just wanted conduct the entire opera; one piece wouldn't satisfy her. She already had me, you know. My reins were in her hands completely, but you, you had a brand new life in front of you. She wanted to conduct that piece. So many possibilities, so much excitement. Who can blame her?"

Leticia was horribly shaken. She couldn't speak. _Could Zelda do this, really?_

"I hated her. _I hated her so much that it made me sick._ I was this close to bring the entire world down upon her. I was this close to unleash the entire hell. But why would I? She was going to take herself down anyways. And by gods, it is so much more fun to just watch her do it." She smirked hysterically, through her fury and Arya saw that. Arya saw how active her fury is after all these years.

No one spoke for a moment.

Until Leticia forced herself to utter the following.

"Why did you let her go? She said she left you because you turned into something she didn't know anymore. That you were vicious and cold. Did you stop loving her?" Her voice was unexpectedly soft.

"What?" Lilith was genuinely surprised. She was caught off-guard which made Leticia stop for a second, searching her eyes.

"Did you stop loving her? She said that you did stop loving her and that was when she decided to leave you." Leticia repeated Zelda's words.

"There has been one person that had me on my knees, willingly, unconsciously, and that is your mother." She replied and Leticia remembered the tone from their long lost past. This was how she used to sound when she was completely truthful. This was how she sounded when she did not calculate anything but just answered a question.

Arya didn't know this tone. She swallowed her tears.

"That does not sound like letting go, does it?" Lilith continued. "She was the one that stopped loving me. She chose _you_ over _me_ , darling, that was the reason why it was over." And it was Leticia's turn to swallow. At that moment, she knew her mother was right about some of the things she told her. Lilith had definitely planned this. And the affection she remembered _Lily_ had for her, was long gone.

"What are you going to do with me?"

Lilith smirked. "Nothing. You will have to pay for your actions just like anyone. And your mother will pay for hers. I think it is time for me to pay her a visit."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long break but I uploaded two chapters back to back so I guess we are in good terms. I hope you liked this revelation and hope some of your questions are answered now.
> 
> Fun fact: The intention was to make this story funny... Well...


	9. There Will Be Blood

"Come to bed." whispered Zelda, as she turned to where Lilith was standing.

She stared at her silhoutte. She hadn't even flinched at her words, it was as if the words flew away from the window Lilith was looking through.

"Lilith?" Zelda tried again. Her voice soft and calming. Magnetic, Lilith would call this. _Once._

"Lilith, I am leaving tomorrow. Please."

And that made the sillhoutte move. The ripple of the shoulders were followed by a cackling. This would easily put a smile on Zelda's face in any other occassion. Lilith's cackles were contagious. But this one was different. This one made Zelda swallow and wish she hadn't opened her mouth, wish she had just went to sleep and leave the other day.

"Lilith, I am leaving tomorrow." Lilith imitated and turned to face her. Their room was pitch-black but Zelda could see the hell fire in those blue eyes of her lover's. 

The wicked smile waned and the cackles stopped. _"Please."_ She rolled her eyes.

She walked to the nightstand poured another whiskey. Zelda watched every movement. The tension in the room was suffocating and she felt all her muscles tense up as Lilith swayed from one corner to other, unable to walk in a straight line.

"You are drunk."

"Oh yeah? Well, that was the intention." She said, as she sloshed down the whole glass.

Zelda watched her as she poured another one.

"I am going to sleep and I advise you do the same." And with that she put her head back on the pillow.

"You are going to sleep. You are going to the balcony. You are going up above." Lilith waved her hand. "You are _going going going_." She knelt before the bed trying to focus in Zelda's eyes but failing terribly to do so. _How much had she drank exactly?_ "Isn't it tiring to always _go_ Zelda?" 

Zelda kept on looking in her eyes. She had no answer for this question.

"I can't talk to you when you are like this." And just as she was turning her back to Lilith, she got her on the shoulder, hands clumsy because of alcohol but firm.

"No no no no. We haven't completed the routine yet. Aren't you going to fuck me one last time before you leave?" She put her head next to Zelda's and her hand held her in place. "Wasn't that why you asked me to bed? So that we could have our annual goodbye sex."

"Why are you doing this?"

"You can't talk to me. Might as well fuck me and shut me up."

With that Zelda got away from Lilith's hold and sat up on the bed. Lilith's hand fell on her lap. She seemed almost limp as she started laughing again, her head still on the bed.

"No worries. I enjoy it too. I still enjoy it, can you believe it? Sex was never a problem with us, was it? Anyways I feel horny too, let's do it." Her fingers crawled to the sheets to get rid of them and went to the skirts of Zelda's nightgown. Zelda felt tears on her face as she stared at the walls. Thinking about anything and everything. _How did they end up at this point?_

She held her hand as she closed her eyes. "Lilith, stop."

And Lilith did stop.

Zelda heard her sniff as she pulled her hands away and reclined back on the nightstand.

They stayed like that for a moment.

And then Zelda found the strength to look at her. Lilith's lips were slightly ajar, her eyes fixed on the wall. The night was ablaze on her features and Zelda looked and looked until she made sure the image would remain with her until the end of time. She could feel every single word clinging to her skin and they hurt terribly. Yet she couldn't stop herself from leaving the bed and sat on the floor next to Lilith.

Lilith did not even move nor did she look at Zelda.

And then Zelda's hand found hers.

She didn't pull away.

But she spoke.

"You are an epidemic and I can feel you crawl within every cell of me." She stood up, limping, and took the bottle of whiskey with her. "I hate it."

Zelda remained on the floor until the sunrise.

* * *

Lilith walked out of the room: her stance sure but her heart pounding. She breathed out as she walked through her corridors. For how many years had she held her breath really? She was finally going to be free. She was finally going to be free after she had the ultimate face off with _her._

She could finally be with Arya: really _be_ with her; once she set herself free.

She was in her dungeons. She was literally in the palm of her hand.

And yet she still had shaky hands.

And her breaths missed a beat once she saw the woman sat on the floor with her back on the wall.

 _This would have been the exact image if she came back in their bedroom on that very night but neither Lilith nor did Zelda knew that._ And The Queen approached the bars and looked down at the woman before her.

It was now Zelda that refused to meet Lilith's eyes.

"You told her." said Zelda Spellman quietly: even the dead could not hear her.

"I did." Lilith answered; voice unshaken.

"What do you want?"

"Nothing you can give."

Zelda turned to Lilith. "Do you want me to beg?" She spoke with spite.

"Are you even capable of that?"

She shrugged and made sure she could capture every tiny movement on Lilith's features. "Anything for the ones I love." This was the least she could do after all; _stick pins._

"So dramatic."

"Let her go. None of this has anything to do with her."

"Oh? Well, this is not a just land."

Silence fell. And Zelda forced herself to stand up get closer to the bars, closer to Lilith.

"Lilith. Please." Her eyes sincere and filled with tears. _"If you have ever loved me."_

_The irony. I am doing this because I loved you so much that the flames within me burnt me out and turned me into- this._

"Are you this desperate?" She pushed the waves of feelings away.

"You love her too. You know this is no place for her. She belongs up above, she would rot here." Zelda tried once again.This reminded old times: her trying to get in and Lilith pushing her away. And at that moment, she wondered, if Lilith had actually always been like this, had she always been like the way her words suggested. Zelda had always thought she had known her. She had thought Lilith loved her, she thought Lilith loved Letty and yet she denied and denied: built walls between them with her words.

_Maybe she hasn't changed at all. Maybe she has always been like this._

_Maybe she never cared._

_Like she said in their last evening together._

_Maybe she only wanted revenge because she hated being walked out._

_Not because-_

"You did not think so back in the day, you know, when you signed the deal. 'She would rot here'." 

"It was a different time. This place was different. And it was a different You." _Was it? Was it different really?_

Lilith laughed this off. "You have excuses for everything. As always." Lilith shook her head. "Spare them for Leticia maybe she'll buy it." She continued "I am waiting for _the fam'_ s arrival by the way and then you will be banished from Hell. Your _daughter,_ as you call her? stays _here_."

Zelda held the bars tight. 

"Are you like this to her as well?" Zelda asked just when Lilith moved to leave.

"To Leticia?" Lilith asked, confused.

"To that girl." _Chin up._

 _So you realized that,_ thought Lilith. "She has a name."

"I prefer to call her your daughter."

"She is not my dau- Gods, Zelda." Lilith put her hands on her hips, _were they really having this conversation?_

"So?" Zelda asked again. None of Lilith's responses seemed to shake her "Are you like this to your child bride?"

"She is not a child-"

Zelda interrupted "Is she your bride?"

Lilith stopped for a second and looked at her ex carefully.

"Not yet." _Zelda swallowed and hoped Lilith hadn't realized that._

"So are you like this to her as well?" _She wasn't going to let her see._

Lilith took another second: her eyes amazed, unable to believe. "What is the real question here? Leticia's eternal stay here? The fact that it is all your fault? Or if I love Arya or not?"

_That is her name then, thought Zelda._

She was taken aback by the last remark. _Can she really- love another?_

_And of course, she did not care if she did. Why would she? Lilith could love anyone for all she cared._

_That poor girl, thought Zelda Spellman, Lilith certainly doesn't love her. She can't. This Arya girl must be suffering terribly. Or she is about to._

_The Ice Queen had thousands of whisperers within her. Some making her believe in the above and even more telling her what she could not admit. They were in the bottom of her stomach and they were too loud. So she continued. She continued for an answer and she continued to hurt, to kill even._ "I am asking if you are vicious and cold to her as well and why the hell she chose to be with you?"

 _And that made The Queen swallow. One could call her, insecure, if I dare to say._ "I am so looking forward for you to leave, Zelda." She said between her teeth.

"You don't know, do you? You are not even sure she really loves you." _Once you start tearing pieces, you cannot stop. For there must be blood and blood and blood._

 _But The Queen got her wits together._ "Do you really think you can hurt me with these idle words? You used to be smarter." 

"She will soon see you for who you are and will try to find a way to run away. Maybe she'll even come to me, don't you think? I am experienced after all."

 _Lilith knew what she was trying to do._ "I'm not going to kill you."

"Your little songbird flying away from her gilded cage." _You are going to lose your temper. Eventually, thought Zelda. What was the point of anything if she couldn't take her daughter out of here._

_And she was right, Lilith did lose her temper, but not in the way Zelda thought she would. Their years apart had really changed her. She was more- mature now. More calculated, if that was even possible._

"I can feel her love igniting from her skin every night I hold her. I can feel it when we fight. I trust the words when she speaks them. And to answer your real question here; it is nothing like what you and I had; there is no chasing; there is no riping flesh, no hurting. It is not cruel. It never is cruel." She sounded sincere. Zelda hated that she sounded sincere. Lilith continued "And she met me at my worst. She did not run away back then, she won't do it now." Lilith smiled, her voice soft. "I am going to meet Hilda and the kids and you will all be leaving." 

Zelda's voice stopped her midway. "We weren't always cruel."

"We weren't." She approved. "And that made the bad times even worse."

The knot in Zelda's throat and the knot of both their lives. Zelda felt the tears rushing. _Cul de sac._

Her shoulders dropped and Lilith sighed.

"Let her go please." Zelda tried again.

"No Spellman, I'm sorry."

"If you are so happy and so in love with that girl why do you even care?"

Lilith's features sharpened again.

"What the fuck Lilith?!" A familiar voice entered the scene. Lilith turned around to see them come in one by one. _The spell that was cast years ago was broken. They all remembered now._ Sabrina looked at Lilith in shock and then ran to her Aunt. Ambrose followed her, going for a spell to release Zelda immediately.

It was Hilda that took her time to come in and she did not look in Zelda's eyes, no, her eyes were straight on Lilith, and to her surprise, Lilith saw sympathy in them, after all those years, after everything that had happened. Her eyes knew, somehow they always knew, and Lilith hated that.

She avoided her gaze and turned to Sabrina who kept trying to talk to her since she got in the room. _My ,she talked too much._

"...and you made us forget. How many fucking years have you erased from our memories!?"

"The best thing about you forgetting about me was that I could re-establish our relationship and don't let you find it in yourself to talk this much. It worked at least for a while but here we are." Lilith smiled, irritated. Then she passed her and touched Ambrose on the shoulder, making him turn to face herself. "Ambrose stop fucking trying, have I taught you nothing?" _These two._

Ambrose dropped his hands and his face reminded Lilith all those times she caught him redhanded when he was younger. This fucking brat, she thought, she really loved him. He had always been his favorite even if she did her best to not show that. They used to be partners in crime.

"Sorry Auntie Lil" And as always it took him a bit longer to realize what he just said, all gazes were already on him when he fixed himself. "Lilith, I mean." 

Even if The Queen hated to admit it to herself, _she had missed hearing that._ She did her best not to smile. "I wasn't the one that erased them by the way it was Zelda." She moved away and sat on the stairs and left the Spellmans face Zelda.

"What?!" Sabrina turned to Zelda in shock.

Zelda did not take her eyes off Lilith. _She has aged,_ thought Lilith. _She looks tired._

"You only did this to us? But why? Not Aunt Hilda?" Sabrina split her gazes between Lilith and Zelda. A thought seemed to strike her. "And Letty? Did you erase hers as well?" she asked.

"Of course I did." Zelda said casually, as if it was the most apparent thing in the entire world. And with that she finally sat back on the floor.

"Not to Hilda." She continued. "I needed someone to remember. I needed help to overcome." And suddenly her fingers became very interesting. Even if she did her best to focus on her fingers she could feel Lilith's eyes piercing her skin.

And they both did not realize Hilda watching.

"Lilith." A voice called, soft and calming and made her gaze turn to someone other than Zelda. "Don't you think this needs to end?" _This tone. So rare. But she knew this tone._

"It's not up to you to decide, Hildie." she answered, her voice threatening.

"Leave Zelda. And leave Letty. I know you already regret it."

Lilith laughed at that. "What is it with you lot and constantly assuming stuff about me?" She stood up and got close to Hilda to make sure she could feel her breath getting warmer and warmer. "I feel very good about this entire thing, don't you worry about me, _sister."_

"I don't worry about you, _sister._ But I think you should worry about your girlfriend."

_Fuck._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have no idea how I made it THIS messy but yes. Hope you liked it. Please drop comments about what you think.


	10. Out of Control

“You wouldn’t dare.”

“Try me.”

Hilda Spellman. The Queen of Hell seemed to forget how many fights The Spellman took on in her name. And how many fights she fought for her sister.

Hilda shrugged and smiled weakly. She didn’t want to do this, Lilith could tell, and yet she would do it if she needed to.

Lilith turned to look at everyone in the room and before turning back to Hilda she saw Zelda swallow.

One thing Lilith did not know at that moment was her panic being apparent to everyone in the room. Nothing like the family, right? Nobody could do it like the family.

Zelda held the bars tight as she realized how the actions of her sister managed to get under Lilith’s skin. She really cared about that girl then? The bird in her started flapping and flapping, trying to get out. Not now, Zelda thought. She had to survive this fight. She had to survive _her_ once and for all.

“There is a serious security problem in your kingdom, you know. Maybe you should keep the house smaller so that you can keep it in control. The space is too big for you and her.” Sabrina interrupted.

One thing that could be said about this young witch could be… the fact that she loved these speeches; these monologues. Watches too much TV, Lilith thought, but her face was not as nonchalant or sarcastic. She rolled her eyes and turned to Sabrina as she spoke, her eyes burning, her lips curling into a very irritated smile.

“There is three of us now though. I think the space is just fine.”

“Stop the charade, Lilith. You go your way and we go ours. Why start this again after years?” Hilda got in between not letting her niece speak more.

Lilith seemed to not receive the constructive attitude. She turned to Hilda and spoke matter of factly. “Let her go Hilda or I will make you suffer.”

“/ And then you won’t be able to find Arya. Dead or alive, mind you. Lovely girl. She reminds me of someone.”

“/ Careful, Hildie. You don’t want to play this game.”

“/ I really don’t Lilith so I am asking you again, leave Zelda and Leticia and we’ll go our way and you will have your girlfriend.”

“I don’t do common grounds. I do my way.”

“And I never lie or speak idly. Compromise, Lilith.”

Lilith stopped and laughed leaving everyone else confused. She is finally losing it, thought Sabrina. She shook her head as her chest stilled. She sighed and turned to Zelda waiting for her to look up. When she finally did Lilith could see the pale skin around her eyes started to get reddish. _She was so pale, so pale for her own good. You know, when you touched her skin, when you only touched it with your index finger and then left it, you could actually see the exact spot where you touched._

Lilith moved her hand and the bars disappeared.

Hilda sighed and closed her eyes, finally relieved. Even if she tried to make it silent it was heard. Ambrose smiled at Lilith, Sabrina did the same looking at Zelda.

It was only Zelda that didn’t move or showed any emotion. And she didn’t take her eyes from Lilith’s.

_And if you pressed your index finger a bit more. The mark would take longer to disappear. And. If you held her tight. If you held her tight around the neck._

Lilith moved her hand once again this time in Zelda’s way making her hit the wall behind her.

Her finger curled, as if they were around an invisible neck, getting tighter each second. She could see the marks around Zelda’s neck.

“LILITH!” Ambrose shouted and as Sabrina and Hilda threw spells Lilith acted first and murmured a spell that shielded Zelda and herself.

“I told you not to play with me, Hildie.” She moved her spare hand once again and went for another spell. Had she always been this fast or did she get even faster?

“What did you do?” Sabrina asked, her panic apparent.

“If I can’t reach her you are not going to be able to do it as well. No way in or out of this room and no spell that of. Welcome to hell, family.” She curled her fingers even tighter and that made a gasp escape from Zelda as she got closed to suffocating.

“Stop it, Lilith, right now.” Ambrose took a step closer as he spoke.

“Leave Arya.”

“Auntie do it!” Ambrose turned to Hilda.

Hilda looked at Lilith in shock in disappointment and turned to her sister who looked her in the eye. For the first time in hundreds of years, Hilda was not right about something.

“You win. Leave her. Leave her right now!”

Lilith loosened her grip around Zelda’s throat which left the witch on the floor in coughs. Sabrina and Ambrose rushed to Zelda as Hilda walked at Lilith. There were tears in the Hilda Spellman’s eyes and her frustration could be read from her face. Lilith raised her head as they came face to face.

“This was the lowest low.”

“I warned you.” Lilith looked into her eyes but somehow avoided them.

“You are desperate Lilith. No happiness for you in this land or any other. You are like a parasite that eats itself out. I am glad my sister left you and I hope that girl does the same as well. She is too young to be burnt out by you.” And she passed to check on her sister leaving Lilith with an incredible weight on her chest.

But she spoke. Without turning her back.

“Keep your promise, Hilda.”

Hilda muttered the spell. “She is in your chambers.”

“Right.” Lilith turned around. Her eyes met Zelda’s. Her face-

Lilith swallowed. Zelda’s mascara was all over her eyes and her face was still red, and her neck-

A tear ran down her face and trailed down her cheek as the black mascara left traces.

The Queen of Hell opened her mouth then decided to shut up.

She turned back and quickly paced out of the room. And Ambrose saw her wipe a tear whilst leaving.

“Leave me alone for a second please.” Zelda whispered to her family.

“What, Auntie, no-“ said Sabrina.

“Do as she says” Hilda said and turned to Sabrina and Ambrose. They did what they were told for once.

“You too Hilda.” Said Zelda as she reclined back at the wall.

“No.” Zelda opened her eyes.

Hilda slowly touched the skin of Zelda’s neck, healing it. And with that Zelda completely broke down.

Hilda took her sister in her arms, cradled her, stroked her hair.


	11. The Curse

_"Arya."_

The relief settled within The Queen as she set eyes on her lover. She let her shoulders fall as she approached Arya who didn't seem to hear her. As she stood right behind her in front of the great windows of their chambers she wasn't so sure she hadn't heard her.

Lilith saw the young witch's eyes and the weight that was lifted from her chest a second ago was back.

Arya was still as a rock.

"How long?"

She didn't face her. 

Lilith didn't understand what Arya meant.

Arya repeated the question as she closed her eyes and let a single tear drop.

"How long were you planning to play with me like this?"

"What- what playing-"

When Arya turned to her, her eyes were on fire. _She looks older_ thought Lilith. _Has she always been like this? Or-_

Lilith wanted to turn back and leave. She couldn't stand Arya looking at her like this. With all that hatred lying in her eyes.

Then she made a move most unexpected at Lilith and crushed her lips onto hers. Her tongue found her way in Lilith's mouth.

The anger was there. The anguish was there.

She closed her eyes as pain striked her.

Her hand found her way to her lip.

There was blood.

Arya had taken a step back. She spoke between her reddish teeth.

"I fucking hate you. I _fucking hate you._ " She stopped for a second and then let out the most desperate and furious scream Lilith had heard.

Lilith felt her skin shiver as Arya collapsed on the floor crying her exasperation her fury and desparation out. _What have I done?_

_What am I going to do?_

She got on her knees and tried to stop Arya from hurting herself. To console her. To comfort her. To be there for her once.

Arya hit her with all she had but Lilith didn't let her go. "You destroyed me! You fucking killed me! You killed me!" She went on screaming. Her words rattled, her voice failing her, going crispy with all the ache she had inside her.

And then it was just crying.

She was ran out. She was what was left of Arya.

When she stopped she was on Lilith's chest unable to move.

Never had been a moment when Lilith wanted to see the earthly sun. She cried silently.

It wasn't Arya that was left over. It was herself.

She was limp in a way she hadn't realised before. She had been limp for a very long time. She had lost the meaning of every other word except for one. Revenge.

And now?

What now?

And what about the wreckage she left behind.

She let the gravity take over and let her body go down on its back.

They stayed still on the floors of their chamber. The Queen and her most unfortunate lover. Like two unfortunate corpses that they were.

Lilith took her hands off off Arya and let her arms fall on the floor.

There was nothing louder than silence indeed.

***

Lilith,

Lilith?

LILITH!

Take the girl off off her!

NOW!

Keep Zelda out of here at all costs and change that shirt before you leave. You are covered in blood.


	12. The Remains and Stains

This can't be happening, thought Ambrose Spellman as he took two steps back from the bodies on the floor. His eyelids brought him back to reality as they snapped close and then re-opened.  
  
"Ambrose! NOW!" shouted Hilda as she looked up at her nephew with terror and adrenaline in her eyes. In mere seconds she returned her gaze onto the women that laid before her.  
  
Sabrina snapped her fingers and got her cousin out of the blood-stained shirt into a cleaner one. When Ambrose realised what she had done and turned to her, Sabrina's eyes were sure of themselves and reassuring. Oh, to have the guts she has.  
  
Ambrose left the room to find his Aunt and get her out of Hell.  
  
***  
  
"Lilith."  
  
Zelda thought she was going to look up at her for a second but it was just a pause of hands on the paper before her.

Lilith had her desk moved to their bedroom recently. Her way of showing she had a life other than Zelda, the witch assumed. It was her way of getting back at her. And also avoiding her.

The pen Lilith had in her hand started moving again as she simply hummed for an answer.  
  
"I can't keep on doing this."  
  
Even if Zelda could not see it, The Queen's fingers tightened around the pen, her knuckles grew white.  
  
Zelda was looking at her but it was as if she had filtered her vision and avoiding anything or any look that could come at her way.  
  
"We are death to each other, you and I, we got too dark and we bring darkness to everyone around us." She looked at her. It took all the courage she had in her but Zelda really looked at her. "I missed the light, Lilith. I missed the warm breeze. All we have is lightning and storms now and I can't keep standing against them anymore. I'm so tired."  
  
Lilith's skin started to crawl and stretch around her bones. She didn't put her pen down.  
  
"No need for melodramatics. Just leave if that is what you want." She breathed out. Her hand found her hair in a rapid movement as she combed it with her fingers backwards and got the strands before her eyes out of the way. Tired, her normally ice cold but alive eyes were, and dark. Zelda realised she was wearing no make up and her usual edgy nightgowns left their place to this new black satin pair. Her black shirt showed her reddened chest. Zelda knew she had been scratching herself. Whenever Lilith was angry or nervous she would get the itch that would leave red marks all over her. Zelda could see the exact spots where Lilith's nails bit the skin.  
  
When she looked up at her face, Lilith had crossed her arms and had leaned back on her leather chair. Her eyes, her bones, her muscles: every particle of Lilith dared Zelda. Hated Zelda. And it made Zelda swallow.  
  
"What are you waiting for? I said you can leave."  
  
Zelda wanted to make this civil. She really did. But- This?  
  
"So that's it? That's all you're going to say?"  
  
Lilith's mouth opened slightly in awe and she started laughing. "You are unbelievable." She stood up and walked to the door as she kept on laughing.  
  
Zelda grew tense as their shoulders brushed and Lilith walked past her.  
  
Suddenly a thought striked her; a possibility. She turned around took fast steps at the door. What if she-  
  
Lilith turned to the noise of the heels. Her eyes shined in the most scary way. Zelda knew this look. She had grown used to this look. It hadn't been just booze lately-  
  
"Gods- Gods! Zelda!" She started laughing again until she stopped and tilted her head. Her lips were smiling but she was broken. "Did you really think I would?"  
  
Lilith opened the door and moved out of her way. "Just fucking leave and don't you dare come back."  
  
She would never, how could I even think she could-  
  
Zelda didn't take her eyes away from Lilith's for one second. Her eyes were determined when closed the door with a shut and held Lilith's face in her two hands. She desperately clung onto her lips and cried into their kiss.  
  
She could feel the fight within Lilith. Her kiss, her tongue was desperate for the connection but it was also as if she was fighting Zelda, screaming and shouting at her.  
  
It wasn't a surprise that Lilith was the one that ceased the connection and started pacing until she punched the wall and screamed.  
  
"Lilith-"  
  
"WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME?!" She walked at her but stopped herself and turned around when Zelda took a step back. "I would never hurt you! Fuck's sake, Zelda!" She hit her own chest in anguish. "ME! I am the one that is hurt! You are hurting ME! Leaving me, kissing me, as if it can make everything all right!" She squeezed her eyes. "You left me years ago, baby. This isn't something new. Were you really expecting a shock or me going on my knees, begging you to stay! Will it work if I do that, ha?"  
  
Zelda remained still. She wasn't able to look into Lilith's eyes anymore.  
  
"I ASKED YOU A FUCKING QUESTION!"  
  
She looked up and answered silently. "No."  
  
Lilith took a step back as her face stilled down but her eyes crazy. Searching, devastated, but can't stand still. Zelda realised how much Lilith scared her. She knew at that moment and for the first time she was terrified of her, maybe just then or maybe for some time now.

It felt weird.

She pushed the feeling back.

"I hate you. So much." Lilith hissed. "I have never felt this much hate for anyone in my entire life."  
  
A single tear dropped from Zelda's eye as she took this in. For she knew Lilith meant it. She meant it this time. Their fights had taken the most brutal turn for some time now and she had heard her say anything and everything millions of time. They had been on the floors, over the corridors, bringing everything down, shouting and screaming. She herself said loads of things but she knew a hawk from a handsaw.  
  
Lilith meant it.  
  
"I love you." whispered Zelda and turned around to leave as fast as she could before seeing Lilith's reaction. She shut the door behind her and walked along the corridors as fast as she could.  
  
Yet it seemed to her the howling, the crying out: the explosion Lilith was making behind her followed her until she left the realm. And she sure was going to have that noise in her head for a very long while.  
  
This is for Letty. This is for Lilith.  
  
This is for _me_.  
  
She repeated and repeated until she made it to her old home.  
  
  
***  
  
  
"Leticia!"  
  
"Ambrose!"  
  
They embraced.  
  
"I missed-"  
  
"We have no time. We need to get Auntie Zee out of here. Where is she?"  
  
"On the balcony. What is going on?"  
  
"No no no. Get her in. We must leave at once. This place is about to go down very soon and she shouldn't be here when that happens."  
  
Ambrose held her hand and tried to get her in. Leticia stood still.  
  
"I'm not going anywhere until you tell me what is going on."  
  
Ambrose huffed and turned around. "Like mother like daughter."


	13. Haunted

Her fingers crawled around the railings as she took another deep breath of Hell in. The last time the Spellman Matriarch stood there was right before she had left their kingdom for good. Their? She couldn't believe she was calling this place theirs.  
  
She touched her neck.  
  
Lilith had done this for that girl.  
  
For that pathetic, ordinary girl.  
  
Ambrose and Leticia walked in to the balcony and her thoughts right on time and she was grateful.  
  
"Okay, Auntie, time for us to leave." Ambrose clasped his hands and avoided Zelda's eyes until he was finished with his sentence.  
  
Leticia approached her mother carefully and slowly touched her folded arms around her body. "Mother," she said softly "I think we are done here, don't you agree?"  
  
Zelda looked at her daughter's big, innocent eyes. She couldn't help a smile. I got her, I got her and that is worth everything. Let the worlds fall upon me, I could deal with anything as long as my daughter is safe and sound.  
  
Zelda nodded.  
  
She let herself lean on her daughter's arm as they walked out of the balcony once again. 

The corridors of the castle had never been that dark. The walls stared back at her like a stranger and it seemed to her in that moment that they were never ever going to let her. This place was her impossible matrix, this was her cage until the end of time. It was impossible to escape no matter how many times she had managed to walk out of these rooms physically. She was stuck behind these walls forever and she had no Lilith to take sanctuary in. They had lost each other long before but Zelda felt Lilith had never really left her until that day. When she- when she could bring herself to take the breath in Zelda's being today, that, was when Lilith let her go, let her caged behind these walls alone. For forever.

Rapid footsteps came their way as her nephew and daughter turned around. When she herself did the same, she found her confinement of ages standing before her. Jadis' eyes had never looked at her this way ever before.

"Zelda."

"Jadis, we are leaving this place." Leticia took a step forward at Jadis, tilting her head and her eyes warning.

"She would want to know this." Jadis replied.

"Beware, demon, you are outnumbered." Ambrose joined Leticia.

"I would never harm her. If you don't let her come with me, she is going to make you two regret this day forever." Jadis' eyes found Zelda's once again. Zelda knew this look.

"What is it?"

"Auntie-"

"Mom- Come on, please." Zelda's sight was focused only on Jadis. Everything else seemed to dissolve in the walls of that dreadful castle.

"You have to come with me, there is something you should see."

"Jadis step aside and let us go. I'm warning you one last time."

"Spare the threats witch. Your father in you shows and it is disgusting."

"How dare-"

"Stop talking Leticia!" When the young witch turned around, she saw the Queen that her mother was once. At that moment she knew how different her mother was before she came along. She was this whole different person. 

Leticia swallowed at the thought. Her mother was once The Queen and other things. Children come to forget that their parents are their own person and do not start existing when they are born.

"Do what you believe is necessary." Zelda joined Jadis as they walked the opposite way. Ambrose and Leticia joined them with a knot in their throats.

"It isn't going to be pleasant." Jadis warned without looking at Zelda.

"What is?" Zelda swallowed. Her life was anything but pleasant.

As they came closer to their destination, Zelda slowed down. The knot in her throat had grew so big and a stone had settled on her chest: her breath came out ragged. Jadis turned to her with eyes, understanding and watered.

"What is waiting for me Jadis?" said Zelda, her mind racing through possible scenarios. Jadis kept looking at her without an answer. _What has happened to her?_ Fear settled in her veins as her being started pounding against the cage of her skin. _No._ Zelda's steps grew faster and in mere seconds her hand was on the door of Lilith's chambers. She pushed herself in and her eyes settled on the blood feat on the floor.

Sabrina and Hilda were inside. They turned around to the door with eyes terrifyingly worried. _They couldn't stop it, they couldn't stop her from seeing this._

Zelda lost the sense of her being. _What were her sister and her niece standing in front of. Who was lying in that bed?_

_And was she-_

The whole world shimmered and disappeared into its nothingness: it was only that bed and Zelda that seemed to exist. She came close to what was waiting for her with terrified eyes.

The white sheets were covered in blood.

Her dark locks were spread on the white pillows. Her beautiful head rested in peace in a way that stuck thousands of needles through Zelda. Her left hand rested next to her body, palm curled, given up.

_Open your eyes._

Sabrina moved to approach Zelda but only to be held by her other Aunt.

"No."

Neither Ambrose nor Leticia managed to stop her from crawling into the bed and lying right next to the figure that once was great. Zelda gave out the most aching how as she took Lilith in her arms. She was uttering anything and everything in between her cries and all were intelligible. Jadis hid her tears. Ambrose looked the other way unable to watch his Aunt like that.

Zelda cradled Lilith like a baby, rocking her as she cried out.

"Zelda." Hilda tried to manage to talk. Even if her sister wasn't able to listen, she had to do this. "We don't know what really happened. We found her and Arya on the floor. Apparently, there had been a scene. There was-"

Zelda's little wails interrupted. Hilda closed her eyes and continued. "There was a dagger on the floor. Arya stabbed her, we think, it wasn't for the kill and she was doing well just before you came in." Hilda swallowed as her sister's cries got deeper. "She killed herself, Arya. Lilith-"

"Mother-" Leticia approached.

"Don't, my dear" Hilda warned. "Leave her be. Let her mourn."

Zelda looked up at her sister who was the only person that she could see at that moment apart from the love of her life that was lying in her arms lifeless. "Hildie-" she said between cries. He face was washed with tears. The worst was her eyes. They were lost and hopeless. _She doesn't know what to do,_ Hilda thought. Fear settled within the witch. Her sister looked like a little, desperate child with the woman in her arms _. She had never let her go, Zelda, what is going to happen now?_

_Sabrina's hands found the back of Hilda's cardigan holding it tighter. The sight carved in their minds as they were the two people that knew about Lilith and Zelda the most._

_After all this time, she loves her,_ Sabrina thought. _She loves her even more than before._

_Lilith in Zelda's arms reminded everyone in the room the absolute truth. They had never walked away from one another. No one had ever imagined them away from one another. For what they were seeing in that moment was the only complete image. They all thought this was their truth and they were going to come to this eventually._

_The unfortunate was the fact that the formidable witch that shook the order and realms for the eternity: their loved sister, aunt; the one that brought presents, the one that backed them up and pushed them to do the absolute bonkers, the one that got between their fights with Zelda and calmed the waters, the one that was the most alive: was now lifeless in Zelda's arms._

_"Hildie, what am I gonna do?"_ Zelda said achingly soft. _"Hildie, what am I gonna do without her, I can't live without her."_

Hilda couldn't hold it back anymore. She started crying. "Oh, sister." She walked to Zelda and embraced her as she planted kisses on her hair. Zelda shook beneath the contact.

"It's a bit tight here."

The whole room fell into absolute silence as the words settled in. It was almost inaudible.

Zelda and Hilda looked down in shock. Zelda let out a breath as she started laughing. "Missed me?" Lilith asked, her eyes still closed but her lips curled in a smile.

"Fucking bitch!" Jadis spoke from the corner of the chambers.

"Manners, darling." Lilith replied as she smiled. "I am still your Queen."

"Lilith."

"Zelda." Their smiles waned into something peaceful. Their eyes locked in one another's.

"You- you were." Hilda was still in shock unable to utter anything sensible.

"I can never turn your sister down." Lilith swallowed without taking her eyes from Zelda. Her head tilted as she slowly managed to shrug. "That's my thing."

"I am sorry Zelda. I truly am." Zelda took this in. _She is back. She is back with me._

_Zelda saw her. Zelda saw her Lilith again. She was there, she was there all along. The woman she fell in love with ages ago and never could fall out of love._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh the drama of it!! Thank you for all the comments and kudos. And thank you for holding onto this. I gave a lot of breaks but I just want to say how much I love writing this and how happy I am to see that you like it too. Let me know what you think about this one? Nothing makes me happier than reading your comments.


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